Sequester hurts needy children

The Sequester and its $85 billion in spending cuts are not in effect and the impacts will be felt by El Paso County's youngest residents, an education official says.

Nearly 2,000 children take part in the three core programs offered by Community Partnership for Child Development. Head Start, Early Head Start and Colorado Pre-School Programs are programs for prenatal to age 5.

Noreen Landis-Tyson, the president and CEO of CPCD, said the cuts will hit the programs hard. "Through sequestration we expect to lose $530,000 which will translate to between 70 and 100 children who will not be served anymore in our program."

Those children will be added to a waiting list that currently has over 500 children on it.

Eighty percent of the children currently in programs offered by CPCD are living in poverty, 25 percent have identified special needs and 25 percent are active duty military, she said.

Landis-Tyson said, "Our program insures that young children who are living in poverty start school with the skills that they need to be successful. That means that the children and families, many of them, will not have that opportunity. They will start kindergarten unprepared."

CPCD is a community partnership that accepts donations to help vulnerable children and families.

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